Boeing delivers first drone to the Navy

Boeing delivers to US Navy

“Orca”: America’s unmanned underwater weapon

Armies around the world are again massively rearming. The US Navy has now received the first “Orca” drone from Boeing.

The US Navy is pushing ahead with the expansion of autonomous weapon systems under water. The US defense company Boeing has handed over the first unmanned underwater vehicle of the type “Orca” to the Navy, as the US trade magazine “National Security Journal” reports. The approximately 25 meter long system belongs to the class of “Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles” (XLUUV) and is intended to be able to operate independently over long periods of time.

According to Boeing, the Orca can travel up to 12,000 kilometers independently. The drone is powered electrically and with a diesel engine. It also has an easily customizable interior, which can be equipped with different sensors, communication systems and other technical systems depending on the order.

The project is based on earlier developments by the US research agency Darpa. The project initially ran under the name “Manta Ray”. Boeing later developed the technology further. According to the company, the “Orca” has been tested at sea since 2017 and is said to have traveled autonomously for more than 10,000 hours. An increasing number of tests have been carried out off the California coast since 2023.

The US Navy sees the system primarily as a supplement to existing fleet formations. The “Orca” could be used together with Virginia-class submarines to monitor ship movements, collect additional reconnaissance data or map the seabed. Operations in the vicinity of aircraft carriers are also discussed. There the drone could provide early warning of enemy ships or submarines.

According to the report, the move is primarily based on strategic competition with China. According to information from military circles, Beijing is also increasingly researching unmanned underwater vehicles.

However, the “Orca” project is still struggling with problems. There were repeated delays in development and unplanned increases in costs. The main challenges are autonomous control and underwater communication. “Once you go underwater, you have to master the air-water interface,” Captain Matt Lewis, head of the unmanned maritime systems program, told The War Zone. This would result in delays in control and data transmission.